The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 6: Parthia: The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.Rawlinson, George
History
The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 6: Parthia: The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.
The circular space within the walls was divided into two portions by a
water-course passing across it from north to south, and running somewhat
east of the centre, which thus divided the circle into two unequal
parts. The eastern portion was left comparatively clear of buildings,
and seems to have been used mainly as a burial-ground; in the
western were the public edifices and the more important houses of the
inhabitants. Of the former by far the most remarkable was one which
stood nearly in the centre of the city, and which has been called by
some a palace, by others a temple, but which may best be regarded as
combining both uses. [PLATE IV. Fig. 2.] This building stood within a
walled enclosure of an oblong square shape, about 800 feet long by 700
broad. The wall surrounding it was strengthened with bastions, like the
wall around the city. The enclosure comprised two courts, an inner and
an outer. The outer court, which lay towards the east, and was first
entered, was entirely clear of buildings, while the inner court
contained two considerable edifices. Of these the less important was
one which stretched from north to south across the entire inclosure, and
abutted upon the outer court; this was confused in plan, and consisted
chiefly of a number of small apartments, which have been regarded as
guard-rooms. The other was a building of greater pretensions. It was
composed mainly of seven vaulted halls, all of them parallel one to
another, and all facing eastward, three being of superior and four of
inferior size. The smaller halls (Nos. I., III., IV., and VI., on the
plan) were about thirty feet long by twenty wide, and had a height of
thirty feet; the larger ones measured ninety feet in length, and were
from thirty-five to forty feet broad, with a height of sixty feet.
All were upon the same plan. They had semicircular vaulted roofs, no
windows, and received their light from the archway at the east end,
which was either left entirely open, or perhaps closed with curtains.
Externally, the eastern facade of the building, which was evidently its
main front, had for ornament, besides the row of seven arches, a series
of pillars, or rather pilasters, from which the arches sprang, some
sculptures on the stones composing the arches, and one or two emblematic
figures in the spaces left between the pilasters. The sculptures on
the stones of the arches consisted either of human heads, or of
representations of a female form, apparently floating in air. [PLATE
IV. Fig. 3.] An emblematic sculpture between the fourth and fifth arch
represented a griffin with twisted tail, raised about 5 feet above the
ground. The entire length of the facade was about 300 feet.
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